The Great Story Beads and the Devas of Creation

A year or so ago, I ran across a wonderful project, bookmarked it, then forgot about it. I remembered it this weekend and want to do something with it. It's a project known as Great Story Beads, also called Earth Beads, Universe Story Beads, Cosmic Rosary, Cosmala, Big History Beads, and probably other names. These beads commemorate the 'epic of evolution'. They highlight the actual story of the Universe to help participants experience wonder and a sense of real belonging in the vast cosmos and the adventure of life, including the events of our own life, thus ensuring we see our personal story as an integral part of a larger story -- and that we ourselves are an expression of the Universe.

The project involves identifying key events on the timeline of creation, and finding beads to represent each, then creating a necklace or mala.

Watch this video featuring one of the pioneers of the Great Story Beads:




And here are some websites for further reading:

Ritualising Big History

Evolution Beads 

Great Story Beads

I really love this idea and want to make such a mala. It got me thinking about another resource that attempts to tell a version of the Great Story, and that's Cilla Conway's Devas of Creation. This deck is not as literal in its portrayal of the Epic of Evolution, focusing instead on 'devas'. Conway describes them as 'primordial energies, invisible energy patterns in the universe, which contain the blueprints for every aspect of existence, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the universe itself. The are multi-dimensional beings, each one part of the Implicate Order that physicist David Bohm talks about, where the Universe is simultaneously whole, and all its enfolded layers. Thus every deva contains within itself the whole Cosmos, the holographic image of Divinity. We ourselves are an integral part of that underlying order: a unique particle of the Divine Mind.'

Devas of Creation

The Devas of Creation contain the following cards:

The Unmanifest--
The Source
The Shining Ones
The Fundamental Laws
The Elements
Numinous and Ambivalent Qualities
Shadow Energies

The Physical Universe--
The Heavenly Bodies
Devas of the Seasons
Devas of Life
Devas of Earth
Devas of the Threshold
Into the Next Dimension

There are so many ways to organise your Great Story Beads. There are lots of timelines available online to help you plan what to put on your mala. And then you add beads to represents events in your own life.

It's just a fantastic project!

So now I need to find out where to source BEADS. Any ideas?

The Pope of Nope says Nope

Camoin TdM 

Oh boy, 'troubled plans'. That's not what I need today, in any aspect of my life. So I refuse to accept it. My plans won't be troubled! I defy you, stars!

There may be complications today, but I'm going to do everything I can do to prevent it.

ETA: So this is what happened...

I had a children's event planned and went fairly well but I ran out of time and left out the plenary -- forgot about it!

I misread the timetable and was 20 minutes late to my next work shift.

Found out the hold-up on our mortgage offer was because the surveyor hadn't collected an amount owed by us for an upgrade from mortgage valuation to Home Buyers Report -- although there is no way for us to pay that, we have to be contacted by them to collect the money. Yet they were sitting there waiting to be paid by us. Idiots.

Hubby had planned something for Friday but hadn't made all the necessary arrangements and so that nearly fell through but it got worked out in the end.

Cards right again!

Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel

CBD Tarot, Ben-Dov 2011

Hm, lots of wheels this week, CBD Tarot turns up the 2 of Coins, following on from yesterday's Wheel of Fortune.

Ben-Dov says:

Duality. Two options or two elements. Collaborating while keeping distance. A winding road, advancing in complex ways. Recognition and acknowledgement.

Yesterday I was miffed at my mortgage adviser for sending me a condescending email reply to my asking him to explain why he'd selected a particular insurance provider instead of some of the ones with better reviews on Which? It was uncalled for, to say the least, but I have merely asked again for more information about the product he's chosen. If he remains unwilling to explain himself, I will have to assume his main motivation is lining his pockets with my commission and not helping me understand why I should buy his product,  and I'll just have to select my own cover as most people do -- on the internet. But the Wheel will come back up in my favour again, and it might be that doing my own insurance actually is in my favour.

Some 2 of Coins affirmations:

"I celebrate my growth and power." Angel Paths

"Every problem is just an opportunity waiting for someone." Key-Hypnosis

"I flourish in the tide of change." Machelle Earley

"Act happy." James Ricklef

Those are all very interesting takes on a card that shows balance, movement and exchange in the realm of money, security and the material world.

(Title reference: Windmills of Your Mind song lyric)

One thing you can count on

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009

Everything goes in cycles. 

I know I've mentioned this several times, but there is one particular song that I feel really captures Wheel of Fortune: 'The World Goes Round,' from the movie 'New York, New York'.

Sometimes you're happy
And sometimes you're sad
But the world goes round
And sometimes you lose
Every nickel you had
But the world goes round

Sometimes your dreams 
get broken in pieces
But that doesn't matter at all
Take it from me, 
there's still going to be
A summer, a winter, a spring and a fall

And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes round
And sometimes your heart breaks
With a deafening sound


Somebody loses, and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks
Then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins
And world goes round and round

Sometimes you're happy 

And sometimes you're sad
But the world goes round
And sometimes you lose
Every nickel you had
But the world goes round

Sometimes your dreams 

get broken in pieces
But that shouldn't alter a thing
Take it from me, 
there's still going to be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring

And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes round
And sometimes your heart breaks
With a deafening sound

Somebody loses, and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks 
then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins
And the world goes round
And round and round and round and round

The world goes round
And round
And round
And round

You don't fall off the planet. You don't fall off the wheel. Bad times come, then they go. Good times come, then they go. As long as you keep hanging on, you can count on that. 

Cups and more cups

Looks like our house purchase is proceeding, now the question has turned to insurance. Home owners, life, critical illness, income protection, and all that jazz. How much insurance cover do I need? What action should I take with regard to insurance?

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009 

I was really surprised by this draw, as I was expecting a lot of swords, to indicate both trouble and decision making. Three cups in a row! Really?

So yeah, three cups in a row, and on either side, the World and the Empress both look away from the cups. I also can't help but notice that 21 and 3 are both 3, and two of the three cups is a multiple of three. What you make of that is up to the reader, but there it is.

The first message: There's all the insurance in the world out there, and it's an extremely emotive subject that plays upon our instinct to protect the nest.

The second message: This emotion doesn't have a great connection to the actual world or actual nurture. Ie, fears and reality are not necessarily directly linked.

The third message: The best action I can take at this point with regard to insurance is to look away from the multitude of emotions -- most to do with fear -- and look to more pertinent issues.

That's funny, because I didn't think I was being emotional, I thought I was being quite rational and gathering information at this point.  The cups represent being fed, basic needs, and by association, fear of not being fed or having basic needs met. And that of course is the very driver of insurance.

If the two figures are looking away from all this emotion, what are the they looking at instead?

What is the World looking at? 4 of Swords -- I figured a sword would turn up.  There may be a World of insurance out there, but I am constrained by certain limitations. I must avoid being led by emotion and turn my attention toward what is actually a logical best choice. 'Four does not change.' The only unchanging aspect in this equation is the finite amount of money I have to work with. That should be a prime consideration, obviously.

What is the Empress looking at? 7 of Wands -- 'Seven brings troubles that fate has assigned.' The Empress looks toward the likelihood of trouble. Trouble is pretty certain to come, but we don't have much chance of knowing exactly what it might be or when it might occur. There are lots of troubles that never happen at all. But she's looking toward the card that represents problems, so it's important to identify those things that are most likely to be an issue for us, and not get carried away by lots of fears and wild what-ifs.

My two real advice cards, then, seem to be 4 of Swords and 7 of Wands, as they are the ones that pull away from the quagmire of emotion in the middle. Both cards suggest protection. 4 of Swords shows a central flower encased in 4 curved scimitars. It is protected by the four interlocked blades. Similarly, 7 of Wands shows an upright wand shielded behind 6 interlocked wands. One is surrounded, the other is shielded. There may be a story in that, but either way, a lone figure is protected, which would have been quite vulnerable on its own. Both are defended.

It seems to me I should examine my current protections and look for gaps that would need to be filled by insurance coverage, rather than being led entirely by the hungry mouths of emotion.

It's interesting that no Coin cards have turned up. I suppose once you identify the type of cover you need, the money side of it is ruled entirely by ability to pay. Not much use looking at prices. Just identify cover and then buy what you can afford.

Analyse it all you want, it comes back to the first impression. All those cups cards shouted to me at once: 'Too much emotion, whether you realise it or not. Dial that back and then proceed.'

Slow and stable

TdM Chosson 1736, Reynaud

Speaking of shysters yesterday, estate agents and mortgage advisers. Yeah, I forgot about those guys when I was contemplating the Magician.

But today is 4 of Batons, and that at least gives me a hint of the progress that will be made today: probably none. But at least things are not going backward.

The Magician - Jean Noblet Tarot

Jean Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014

Yesterday was miserable. No air conditioning at work.  My workplace registered 32C on a thermometer we keep near the computers, and even though I did no walking, my ankle and calves broke out in the golfer's vasculitis I usually get on a midsummer long-distance walk. (Though in the last few years, this has popped up more and more and for less and less reason -- though always in warmer months.) I hate heat and so does my poor body. I went to sleep in the middle of the floor last night at 8 PM and only woke up to get in bed. So last night I actually slept 10 hours, as opposed to my usual 6. That's how depleted I was. Stupid heat.

Today we have Magician. For some reason he seems to be holding a small pink penis, though it looks rather like it might also be a digit bent backward. Whatever it is he's holding in his other hand is small and pink -- maybe he's giving a demonstration of how to put on a condom. Well, who knows what the creator of this deck was thinking in 1650 Paris. There's a lot of debate about this detail. Many think it is the result of a broken wood block. Others think it was Noblet's play on words: une verge means both rod or wand and penis, apparently. Rather than any esoteric meaning, it was probably either a mistake, or a joke. I suspect it's a joke. Some people say it has to do with 'beginnings' and 'generation', but for me, and traditionally, that is represented by the female and not the male reproductive organs. It's just a silly cock joke. 'He's holding his wand. Fnar fnar.'

He's not even the Magician, he's Le Bateilleur, a street performer. He has some of the tools of his trade on the table: dice, 3 cups and 3 peas (or that could be some sort of chain or hoop trick), a couple of knives (maybe he throws or juggles them?) and pages from a book which he probably can't read but likes to amaze his audience by either pretending to consult or reciting some memorised lines while pretending to read. It is 1650 after all, and this is a street performer, unlikely to be literate. Whatever's going on in his hands has less to do with symbols of new life and more to do with illusion and prestidigitation.  He's probably just about to make the 'coin' he's holding disappear up his quite voluminous sleeve. His routine is so well rehearsed, he can afford to look away and pay attention to something else. Maybe he's bored. Work is work, after all. It's his job to fool us, maybe even amaze us, but for him, it's just a routine.

'The function of the Magician is to make us question everything, including why we may feel uneasy about being conned. But we are also meant to question why we like being conned,' writes Camelia Elias in Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading. 'Indeed, what if the illusion of reality is more interesting than the real? What is the real? The mind is high strung when this card is present. How about winding down the stress?'

Where are you feeling conned today? Where are you conning yourself? And what is stressing you out? Move on down the street and leave 'LL Batelevr' to carry on without you.

Lead with the heart

Jean Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014

Yesterday I drew Knight of Cups from Dodal Tarot in answer to what I need to do for my security. I interpreted it as 'go with your gut feeling.' What could it mean for me today?

The Noblet LWB suggests that Cups represent 'priests and healers', and that 'with maturity', the individual 'will fly on his own and take responsibilities, become the horseman in the phrase: "to have in order to act". The Knight of Cups, then, has attained enough skill in healing and spirituality to act independently of others. His training wheels are off, so to speak.

I wonder what's going to happen today that I will need to have my emotional training wheels off for. Whatever it is, I should lead with my heart instead of overthinking it.

If we look at the card literally...a horse is fast, and the figure on it holds out a cup. Maybe it will be a fast-paced day in which I need to remember to drink plenty of liquids. :)

Advice for the week

This is a reading for myself...but you could use the same technique for your own questions. First two questions are a 3-card draw (lines 1 and 2), final question is a 1-card draw (single card on right).

What is the best course of action to take this week to assure the outcome we want?
What is the best course of action for security in the future?
What is my best next step?

Tarot de Marseille Francois Chosson 1736, Yves Renaud

Be prepared to spend a lot of money; otherwise, the outcome is out of my hands.

Stability is the result of optimism, trusting in a partner, and going with gut feeling.

My next best step is to wait for the call. Nothing else to be done.

A week in the cards

White Knuckle Playing Cards, SeaOfPain.com 

Good week ahead, lots of red, that's what we like! Shame about that 5 of Spades at the end, I wonder how I'll be feeling by the end of the week. (Most of the cards appear to be reversed, so I must have had the deck upside down. I am disregarding that aspect). I know a row of red cards that ends in a spade denotes delays. Something is going to stall out by Friday. 7 of Diamonds may mean a 'troubled purse'. 5 has to do with health and the body...I should be on the lookout for trouble brewing, possibly having to do with finances as it affects my relationships and/or emotions. I have a feeling this has to do with a certain political party I've joined and paid fees for. I think I may be excluded from the party because of affiliation with another party -- and it doesn't look they'll refund fees taken. Could also be pointing to a pattern of conflict about money in another area that's been happening lately. One I have no control over, but the other I can watch for signs and make an effort not to fall into the same pattern.

I intend to post thoughts each morning, then return with an update in the evening, then look at the spread in retrospect on Friday evening.

Monday  - 3 of Hearts
AM - Today's card is 3 of Hearts, which is rather like tarot 3 of Cups. Today I will work on being a good friend and watch out for how friendship unfolds around me.

PM - Evening update, I didn't notice 'friendship unfolding around me', but I did have some concerns about something at work and a few people were supportive. That's not exactly a party, but I'll take it.

Tuesday - Queen of Hearts
AM - This morning we have Queen of Hearts. Compassion. Will I be filled with love and compassion today? Or will I be in need of compassion? Maybe both?

PM - Completely unexpected outcome, but very Queen of Hearts. I found myself feeling quite overwhelmed by all the trouble going on in the world lately, and a friend suggested I try these out Free Empath Survival Programme but by that time it was 2.15 in the morning, so I'll have to try them on Wednesday.

Wednesday - 7 of Diamonds 
AM - Troubled purse. Great. I'm hoping this is just a reference to needing pocket change for the bus today. I'll check my wallet and go to the cash point on my way out.

PM - Nothing to do with my money happened yesterday -- unless it was my visit to the house where I talked to the vendors. There's always the chance the impression was made that I want to pay through the nose for it, which might trouble my purse when my mortgage advisor tries to get the price down a bit.

Thursday - 5 of Diamonds 
AM - Financial health. Greater stability is sought in finances. Hm.

PM - We got the damp report. We spent a lot of time discussing money. We were definitely discussing financial stability.

Friday - 5 of Spades 
AM - Oppositions and obstacles that are temporary.  Sometimes indicates a negative or depressed person (Cafe Astrology). Be wary of those that might make trouble for you. Do not get drawn into unnecessary disputes and arguments (Aquarian Insight). Reverses and anxieties, but eventual success (Cartomancy 101). Being at the threshold of a project; money anxiety; success in business or love after lots of hard work (Meanings of Playing Cards). Okay, so things with the house may look shaky, but with determination we will work them out.

PM - Mortgage adviser offers less to estate agent. Now we have to wait until Monday (next business day) to hear vendor's response.

We are The World

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009 

Hello, World! Don't see you very often in my daily draws and readings. How ya doing?  What do you have to say to me today?

Everything is perfect as it is.  (Yoav Ben-Dov, The Open Reading)

What are you, kidding me? Day before yesterday I drew the 10 of Batons -- my house buying troubles, the EU Referendum, what about those two black Americans gunned down by shrieking, panicked white police officers in the US in the last day or two, and refugees and war and famine and injustice and all those other things that I see and worry about? What about those? Now everything's perfect as it is?

I am not about the things of this world. I am The World.

Right. ...
What?

I am the soul operating within the limitations of physical being. I represent your being 'in the world, but not of the world.' I am about finding your place in the world and discovering your oneness with everyone and everything in it. (James Ricklef, The Soul's Journey: Finding Spiritual Messages in the Tarot)

Umm. What if I don't want to be one with everything in this world?

It's not about what you want, it's about what is. You are already one with The World. I am the realisation of this. 

The world is a dangerous place. We're all in tremendous peril.

We're all having the same experience -- life and then death. There's no difference between you and everyone else. None. 

It feels like some people in the world are out to get everyone else. Or that they don't mind chewing up and spitting out others to get what they want. That's not a world I want to be a part of.

And yet in some ways you are the same. You just don't see it from the point of view of those you, even indirectly,  'chew up and spit out' to get what you want. 

Are you talking about consumerism?

Haven't you even thought about that word? What does it mean to 'consume'? Who or what is being consumed? But I don't want you to go to a dark place or feel guilty. That does not help. I want you to realise your oneness and look at things from that higher point of view. 

Oh. I just heard that there have been more shootings in Dallas. Police officers targeted by snipers. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to feel?

Feel how you feel. Feelings are okay. I am not here to change the world, I am The World. The more who realise me, the less likely it will be that the circumstances that lead up to atrocities committed upon each other will occur. It is not for you to change the world. You cannot save it. It doesn't need saving. It needs to wake up, and that can happen only one sleeper at a time. 

This seems kind of heavy for a Friday and a daily draw.

Okay, how about this: There's a world of information out there, but the art is in knowing what to do with it (Camelia Elias, Marseille Tarot).

I can cope with that. And it gives me permission to process all the bad things in my own way. Thanks, World.

De nada. 

3 of Cups

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009 

Well, this is unexpected, especially after the 10 of Batons day I had yesterday. I won't go into it except to say, it did turn out to feel like a tremendous burden, but there was an ally who told me not to worry. (Fat chance!)

'Three shows things growing,' Dawn Jackson's saying goes, but as Camelia Elias points out in Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading, it can be growing in increments, or it can be diffusing. Three flowers growing in a tight bunch can be something of a bouquet, but three flowers spread across an entire lawn just looks a bit messy. With a three, you either focus, or you scatter.

The playing card, 3 of Hearts, can mean either love and happiness growing, or emotional problems and inability to decide who or what to love.  (I saw this meaning repeated in several places online, so it must ring true for a variety of bloggers).  The three 'shows us a fork in the road. We must choose which path to take. Negatively speaking, the three symbolises uncertainty and confusion. Positively, the three means entertainment and 'right choice'. We must be optimistic and above all have faith' (Metasymbology).

What do I see here? It's hard to forget the three sisters (I think of them as sisters) carousing in the RWS image. But if we look at what's here in the Dodal image, there are some cues to springboard from. We do see a single cup followed by two cups, and there is  sense of growth in that. We also see that the cups are separated by vines and leaves, and there is a sense of dispersion in that. I also see that underneath the top cup there is a spiky red shape that reminds me of flames. How very curious. What's putting that cup's feet to the fire? There could be fruit for interpretation there, depending on the question and the intuition of the reader in the moment of the reading...

For me, I'm seeing more the separate between the cups than the unity today. To me, it looks like two against one. Two what against one what, though? Don't know yet. :)

10 is a lot

Camoin-Jodorowsky

Ugh. I only slept 4 hours last night. I think it must have been a backlash from having slept 7 hours per night for the last two nights. I wasn't sleepy at all until 12.30 pm and then of course woke up at 4.30. Then I draw 10 of Wands.

Camelia Elias calls this the 'Can't see the woods for the trees' card. She also says it indicated 'a lot of work, pressure and blocked ways. Not good.'

In Dawn Jackson's playing card mnemonic, ten is 'the end'. The card could be a tipping point spilling over into a new cycle of some sort.

But Yoav Ben-Dov has a different take on the card entirely. In The Open Reading, he calls this card 'Loyalty', and sees it as an ally, someone you can trust in times of trouble. This comes from the two wands standing together amidst the entanglement of the other eight wands. They actually pass underneath the entanglement -- they're not interwoven like the others. He suggests the card means pure intentions, alliance, loyalty, partnerships overcome hardship. Honouring one's principles in spite of difficulties. (We also saw the idea of an alliance in the 10 of Swords card, which depicts two swords crossing tips, apart from the other eight swords...)

There's a lot of passion and violence in this particular card, the Camoin-Jodorowsky. Lots of red. But I actually drew from the Dodal TdM, and that one has red batons, but the centre is all pale blue with only 4 red diamonds in the middle, and those are disconnected from each other. (Sorry for using an image from online -- I couldn't be asked to scan this morning and for some reason Camoin is the most popular TdM on Google search). Pale blue is the colour of ice, and is associated with detachment. A lot of ruckus, but at the core there's detachment. You care and you don't care. Or you care, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, whatever it is you're riled about. That's one way to look at it.

On the other hand, it could be as simple as, 'If you've got a lot to do, don't forget to ask someone to help you.'

7 of Wands - standing tall amidst the troubles

Camoin-Jodorowsky Tarot 

I'm totally being stalked lately! Now 7 of Wands is back.

Troubled actions. Headaches and heartaches with work, callings and plans.

Yoav Ben-Dov calls the card 'Struggle'. Other key words are challenge, opposition, competition, rivalry. Some readers take this a step further and start to interpret this as advice for overcoming trouble: taking a stand, standing up for what you believe in, putting up a fight, standing your ground, perseverance, gritty determination. Those are all well and good, but the card just shows 'struggle'. All the rest of it comes by association.

This is why it's useful (necessary) to draw more than one card for a meaningful reading. Even one major can't give you more than a perfunctory answer. But as a daily draw is really just a 'tone of the day' or 'what energies are present' sort of thing, it will do. (Of course, I also think if you don't have a question, there's no reading, either. My daily draws are for observation or to kickstart some introspection or just do some rambling about the card itself...not really 'readings'.)

To be honest, there's struggle everywhere I look lately. I'm not surprised this card turns up. It doesn't even have to be something specifically to do with me, just the feeling of 'struggle' present all around me. I see it on the news, I see it in my workplace, it's everywhere. But when you come right down to it, life is just a struggle, isn't it? It can't be 9 of Cups every day. 7 of Wands or 10 of Swords, a day will come to an end and we'll have survived it. That's the important thing. We can observe struggles going on all around us without engaging. We can even observe our own inner struggles with some measure of detachment, though that is a conscious choice and not easy to sustain without practice.

Let the others become enmeshed in troubles if they want. We will stand tall amongst them, not apart from them obviously, but not truly involved. That's not overcoming it or fighting it. That's being present in it. It's often the best (and only) option.

I've got mail - Temperance Stalker Letter

A letter from my recent stalker, Temperance. Two cards from yesterday's draw returned: Queen of Wands and Strength!

LoScarabeo TdM mini

Dear Carla, 

When I show up in your readings, I'm giving you a message about regulation. You need to regulate yourself, but not in the way you seem to believe. You need to get your thoughts and actions in order. You're being controlled by them. 

I'm showing you that you are wearing thin under the strain. What I want you to do is to dream. And by that I don't mean listing goals you'd like to achieve, or creating a life 'mission statement', I mean literally dream. The kind you do when you're asleep. How long has it been since you paid attention to your dreams? Since you recorded them in your dream journal? How long has it been since you truly valued the landscape of your dreams? You worry about sleep, but do you value what happens there? 

When I appear, I am asking you to release 'taking control' of yourself. You don't need more discipline. You need the opposite. I want you to embrace pure flow from source. You're an Aquarius, the Water Bearer, and Aquarius is ruled by the Star. Why does the Star never turn up in your readings? I want you to embrace the Star. She's my sister, people say we look alike. She's a bit more laid back than me... Maybe I'm as close as you can get to her for now, but she's the real you. Camelia Elias says of her:  'No measuring is necessary here. Just sheer flow. She needs no rules or constraints dictating her actions. She prefers to navigate through life trusting nature and the universe. Such faith she must have!' I want you to release your attempts to seize control in overt ways. I want you to embrace the dreamscape and trust the flow. 

When you see me, it's time to drink from the cup of your rich, inner world, of which you are Queen Carla, the First of Her Name.

Now go get a literal drink of water and take an actual nap. I mean it! When you wake up, how about a little meditation? See below. 

Sincerely

Temperance 

7 of Batons (and at last a Queen of Wands I can relate to)

TdM Camoin-Jodorowsky 

This colourful version of 7 of Wands is from the Camoin-Jodorowsky Tarot de Marseille. I don't actually own it; I found this image online. It differs from the Dodal (which I drew the card from in real life) in the darker blue segments of the rods and the vines. Dodal has all pale blue in the centre, except for the four red diamond shapes, and instead of dark blue leaves, red stems and gold outer leaves, there are gold stems with pale blue tulip shapes having large red stamens or protrusions. Personally, I don't think it makes any difference at all to the reading of this card.

Seven of Batons signifies a struggle. Troubled plans. Hmm.

I drew a few more cards to get some idea where my struggles lie, and came up with Force + Queen of Wands + Temperance. That's three draws in a row for Temperance, by the way.

Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009 

Where am I struggling? Wow. That Queen of Wands really stands out. She looks knackered! I've been tracking my sleep for the last month. I made a chart and for each day I will colour in a square if I manage to sleep 7 hours in a night. In the month of June, I slept 7 hours five nights. The rest of the nights were around 5 hours, sometimes less. Last night I slept 5.5 hours. I really do not know what to do to solve this problem. But let's back up.

I wanted clarity on the 7 of Wands, so I drew Force. That suggested taking control of a situation, but I wondered what situation, and as Force is facing right, I drew to see what she's facing. I got the most exhausted looking woman in the tarot world, Dodal Queen of Wands. I wanted to know where the two of them are headed, since they both face the same way, and I drew Temperance. Maybe I'm dehydrated. There's a stream of pale blue running down the front of the lion, and Temperance pours water and stands beside water. Temperance's wings are made of pale blue, maybe water is the answer to some of my troubles. It looks like it might be time to get Temperance to write me a stalker letter. 

In the meantime, though, that Queen of Wands needs looking after. She don't look too good. That wand she carries must be a really heavy burden, it's a doozy. Not to mention that axe wound to the chest she's got there. Good lord -- I know what those are! The Big Baton is my recent projects of home buying and worry about work (a hobby of mine), and the chest wound is the Big Bad that happened to me nearly two years ago. Those are the reasons she's so worn out. Trying to be 'strong' has led to this deteriorated state. She needs Temperance -- and I'm seeing that today very strongly as liquid, liquid and more liquid. Keep pouring the water. On a higher level, this could be fluidity. What did Camelia Elias say about Temperance? 'She knows how far to stretch her elastic.' Well, some of my elastic is stretched too thin and some of it has perished from lack of use. The thing to do today is drink plenty of liquids and ---

Wait! I see a rhyming element! The hands in Force stretch the jaws apart. The hands in Temperance stretch the water between jugs. How far can they stretch? 

Temperance is looking straight at the axe wound in the Queen of Wands' chest. 'Temperance can annoint,' says Camelia Elias. 'She can make things smooth.' How can Temperance help heal that weary Queen of Wands? Strength appears to be looking straight at it as well. How can Strength help? 

Strength and Temperance both wish to heal the Queen of Wands of her burden. They stand on either side of her, facing her. And yet she stares directly out of the card at us, rather like one of those characters from 'The Office', or Oliver Hardy when Stan does something stupid. 'I'm sick of all this,' she seems to be saying. 'Too much crap. Too much.' Will she ever take the healing that's on offer? Strength and Temperance both appear to be trying to show her how far to stretch, when to stretch and when to release. She ought to listen. Of course, they both eye the strange wounded spot on her chest. Maybe they're hinting about knowing how open or closed to keep her heart.

Is there some way in which you are weary today? Is there some struggle for you? How are you stretched too thin? How are you not stretched enough? How can Temperance heal you today? What Strength do you have to see you through?

Right, I'm off to get a big glass of water...

Ace of Batons - What will you make of it?

Jean Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2009 

When you see a tarot Wand (or Baton), do you think Fire in the South? Why do you do that? What if you didn't? What would the Wands suit mean to you without all that baggage?

I took a look at the Ace of Cups the other day, not using esoteric correspondences, but common sense. Let's try that with the Ace of Batons today.

The pip suits are sometimes divided into 'soft suits' and 'hard suits'. The soft suits are Cups and Coins. They correspond to the Hearts and Diamonds in playing cards, the red cards. ('The firstmost rule is easily had: red cards are good and black cards are bad.') The hard suits are Batons and Swords. They correspond to Clubs and Spades in playing cards, the black cards.

Cups and Coins are 'good' for obvious reasons. We have a happy reaction to a golden cup of red wine or a pile of shiny coins. We can nourish ourselves and buy things we need. Good feelings. Good results (mostly -- but let's keep it simple for the moment.) Batons and Swords are 'bad', also for obvious reasons. What's the first thing anyone thinks to do with a stick? Hit something, of course. Sticks were probably our first weapons -- and our first tools. In that way, Batons are not all bad. You can use them to hit, hurt, exert power over and do violence, but you can also turn them into more refined tools, or use them as building material to make things, even turn them into musical instruments or toys. Swords, though, are not as multi-function. They are made for stabbing and slicing other human beings. Nobody hunts for food with a sword or uses it as a tool. It's for hurting, for power, and for dominance. That's why the Swords suit is considered the worst.

The Batons in tarot are the Clubs in playing cards, and as the mnemonic says, 'Clubs mean work, callings and plans.'  When we think with common sense, we can see that's true. Rods, clubs, wands and batons are items made of wood, and wood is a versatile material that has played a very important role in man's work, callings and plans. Yes, you can burn it, so there's the association with Fire, and it's hot in the south, I suppose, but that doesn't have anything to do with the plain old common sense use of the baton and its raw material, and in order to read TdM pips effectively, I believe it's best to keep things as straightforward as possible.

Ace of Batons is traditionally seen as 'an opportunity'. Can you see why? It's a bit more of a leap than seeing Ace of Cups as a house (because it looks like a house). Ace of Batons may be an opportunity because a big stick is really nothing but potential. It's just a stick until we pick it up and decide what its use will be. We could use it to beat the rest of the village into submission and become the ruler. We could use it to drive the money changers out of the temple. We could use it to make a hammer, or the leg of a table, or a flute or a magic wand. Maybe all the colours falling around could be suggesting the different uses, and the hand shows that unless it's wielded for some use, it's just a stick.

Today is a Baton -- a big hunk of raw material for you to make into something. It's an opportunity. What will you make of it?

Thoughts on Temperance

Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2009

'Her water resembles the rope that holds the Hanged Man's foot. Is she the one who releases him? Who washes his body? Temperance can anoint. She can make things smooth. She knows how far to stretch her elastic. She is the true gambler. The real thing.' -- Camelia Elias, Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading

'...the angle at which the angel or woman pours the water. Quite simply, you can't do that. Water won't pour at any angle but straight down. Thus, the card shows us a figure who calmly and gracefully does the impossible.' -- Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom

'In Justice, the cerebral order of the top part [of the card] wields a sword, and forcefully subdues the natural life flow of the bottom part. In the Force card, the higher element is still master over the lower one, but this is done in a soft way. In Temperance too we can see a high part and a low part, each with its own vessel. But in this card the two parts are united by the liquid flow.' -- Yoav Ben-Dov, The Open Reading

'An important aspect of this card's meaning of alchemical transformation can be summed up beautifully in the Nichiren Buddhist term hendoku-iyaku -- "changing poison into medicine". This is the process by which we transform our problems -- anything from our base desires to our troubles and afflictions --into strength, joy and enlightenment.' -- James Ricklef, The Soul's Journey: Finding Spiritual Messages in the Tarot

'Many of us think serenity means we have to close ourselves down, not let life get to us. We assume we must avoid passion in order to stay serene, untouched. But imagine a state in which you could allow the strongest emotions to move through you, take firm action whenever necessary, love, cry, dance and never lose your ground, your knowledge of who you are and what really matters. Imagine that you know, not as an idea but as knowledge in every part of your body, and every action and every emotion, that the divine moves through you like a river. Or like a bright stream of water that passes from one cup to another.' -- Rachel Pollack, The Forest of Souls: A Walk through the Tarot

Mantra for Majors, Rowan Tarot 
(Temperance by Emily Carding)